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Public acceptability of nudges targeting parents and children to improve children's health outcomes: results from an online experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2020

OLIVIER DROUIN Open the ORCID record for OLIVIER DROUIN [Opens in a new window]
OLIVIER DROUIN*
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
*
*Correspondence to: CHU Sainte-Justine, Division of General Pediatrics, 3175 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, 7e étage, bloc 9. Montréal, Québec H3T 1C5, Canada. E-mail: o.drouin@UMontreal.ca
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Abstract

There is great potential for nudges to make gains in child health through improvement of lifestyle behaviors. In this study, I use an online sample of adults to test the acceptability of two nudges (one to address teenage smoking and the other to address pediatric obesity) when targeting one of three populations: adults, parents or children. The study shows that a majority of adult respondents would accept the use of nudges aimed at parents and children. The findings show that nudging parents or children directly has the same acceptability as nudging adults. These results suggest that when the objective of a nudge is to improve children's health, it is acceptable to target parents or children themselves. These results open the door to testing the efficacy of nudges in pediatric public health.

Type
New Voices
Information
Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 470 - 487
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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